MPs complain of poor quality water

Labour MPs Joe Mizzi and Charles Buhagiar homed in on water quality during the first part of the parliamentary debate on the estimates of the Water Services Corporation yesterday.

Mr Mizzi said the corporation should have warned clients of poor quality, and potentially health hazardous water in some localities.

Mr Buhagiar said all agreed on the need to raise water quality to acceptable standards, but had the government calculated how much the cost of water would rise as a result?

Mr Mizzi said the corporation's report showed that water supplied in Victoria, Naxxar and Attard had, since 2000, a higher level of nitrates than allowed by the EU, yet the WSC had not warned consumers of the possible dangers to health, particularly to babies. What would the minister do if it resulted that babies died as a result?

He said tests of water quality were being made to satisfy EU requirements and not to protect the consumer.

A report by foreigners commissioned by the WSC showed the alarming situation of water quality, including the presence of dangerous chemicals such as bromite and chromium.

Mr Mizzi pointed out earlier in his speech that the financial report did not include provision for the amalgamation of the sewage department with the Water Services Corporation. What was the capital expenditure related to the sewage sector going to be?

He observed that revenue from the sale of water was expected to rise by Lm0.5 million. How would this come about, through efficiency or higher tariffs?

It was worth noting that the WSC's chief executive has said in December that around 40 per cent of production was being lost. Thousands of gallons of water were lost because repairs were taking too long to be tackled and completed.

Mr Mizzi said the government should stop speaking about surplus workers. In an issue of The Times in December last year, the minister had indirectly said the number of workers had to be reduced for the WSC to make a profit. It was not the workers who should be blamed for inefficiency.

Referring to the setting up of water polishing plants, Mr Mizzi said Malta was going beyond EU requirements with consequent higher costs.

Mr Mizzi also criticised the way board members were appointed to the WSC, noting close connections to officials in the Nationalist Party.

He also asked what the WSC was doing about illegal groundwater extraction through boreholes.

Interjecting, Public Investments Minister Austin Gatt said this sector was the responsibility of the Malta Resources Authority which fell under different ministry.

Continuing, Mr Mizzi asked what the WSC was doing to store storm water and to protect the acquifer from seepage of dangerous substances.

Concluding, Mr Mizzi said the WSC should seek ways to become more efficienct without shedding workers.

Interjecting, Dr Gatt said no one would be dismissed, but the possibility existed of some workers being transferred to government departments.

Mr Buhagiar said that in discussing water quality, the corporation focused on two chemicals - nitrates and chloride. Nitrates were produced by drainage leakages and from soil chemicals. Through blending, it was simple to reach the required standards when it came to nitrates.

But in Gozo there was a problem because the island was completey dependent on ground water. The solution being proposed was to continuously pump Reverse Osmosis (RO) water from Cirkewwa to the new polishing plant in Gozo. This involved certain expenses. He pointed out that even though the Cirkewwa RO plant was newer than that of Lapsi, the water it produced was more expensive. How was could this be?

Mr Buhagiar observed that the polishing plant in Gozo was supposed to have come on stream last February, but the minister was now saying it should start working shortly. What had caused the delay?

Chloride in water, Mr Buhagiar said, were harder to control, as this required a system similar to ROs. Chlorides were, in fact, the reason why polishing plants were required. However, one had to keep in mind that 20 per cent of water inputted into the plants would be rejected, so there would be less water, although this would be of better quality translating into greater pressure on ROs and an added cost. Everyone agreed on improving water quality, but had the costs been calculated?

Turning to distribution management Mr Buhagiar said a reservoir was still needed at Xwieki to store the water from the Pembroke RO plant.

Turning to boreholes, he said their illegal develoment had expanded throughout the country. Under the Labour government, an effort had been made to have them registered but those bored after 1998 were not registered.

The WSC should pressure the Malta Resources Authority to carry out the necessary monitoring and crack down on illegal extraction since one could now safely say that such extraction was higher than that made by the WSC itself.

It was not so hard to know where these boreholes were. The WSC should see who the heavy water users were, and where they got their water from.

Mr Buhagiar said he agreed that the WSC had taken over the sewerage sector, but this had to be done in a way which caused the least negative consequences. Many workers did not know what was to become of them.

He observed that in terms of an agreement with the EU, Malta had to stop pumping untreated sewage into the sea by 2007. But except for the sewage treated at Sant'Antnin all sewage produced in Malta was currently pumped into the sea.

The Labour government had bound itself to have all sewage treated by 2000. But the momentum was lost by the present government.

It was now clearly apparent that the government had to act fast on the building of sewage treatment plants in order to avail itself of funds from the EU and the Italian financial protocol. Deadlines were strict. Some 40 per cent of the EU budget remained unspent because targets were not met and Malta should be careful that the same thing would not happen.

Work on the treatment plant to be financed through the Italian protocol had to be concluded by September of next year but he was not sure whether Mepa had even issued the necessary permits yet.

Waste treatment plants would give constant water production but it would be a shame if this water were to be dumped into the sea, Mr Buhagiar said. One should see how this was best utilised.

Mr Buhagiar said he was not convinced that Wied Ghammieq was the best site for the largest of the sewage treatment plants, from which second class water would be produced since the use of this water would thus require long pieplines. Indeed, one should consider whether to have two smaller plants.

Turning to the pricing policy of the WSC, he said the EU was insisting on full cost recovery from these plants. So a fee had to be introduced to pay for the operation of these plants.

Mr Buhagiar said the Water Services Corporation should also be responsible for stormwater.

The WSC should take over the management of stormwater and ensure that as much of it as possible was stored. It should insist that every development had a well.

The debate continues today.